Mon, Apr 27 2009 10:19 AM | Indiana, independent, public relations | Permalink
Looks better up close than from a distance, sir

A few years ago, I got a call out of the blue from an old friend who works for a large and prominent corporation. He told me that the company's CEO, the scion of the owning family, was hell-bent on declaring war against one of his critics. The problem was that this particular critic was himself a noted celebrity with a sterling record of public service, not to mention sex appeal. My friend wanted to know what I thought of the idea.

His problem was that the CEO's inner circle was ready to smear on war paint at the boss's call. They were as enraged at the perceived offenses of this critic as if they were members of the family themselves.

At the time, I happened to be traveling in a different time zone. My geographic distance really mirrored my professional distance. So I saw clearly how this conflict would look outside the CEO's ring of advisors. "Your guy cannot take on a public icon who will be perceived, true or not, as having little financial interest in the issue," I said. "He will lose more than he could hope to win."

My friend knew this already. He's as good as it gets. As part of the inner circle himself, however, he could not help but be infected by the war-room spirit. Asking me what I thought was his way to remind himself of what he already knew. In the the end, a tense peace was maintained and the criticism was buried in the layers of time.

Someone from the Indianapolis Colts camp should have made a call like that on Sunday before Jim Irsay called the Indianapolis Star. That call elevated his letter to season ticket holders about why the Capital Improvement Board's problem is not the Colts' problem into a personal rant about why the team shouldn't be criticized in this debate. It's like insisting on having the last word in argument twice.

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David Dawson
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